Saturday, June 2, 2007

Crafters of all varieties have "stash". A creative person needs inspiration, good materials on hand for when it strikes. A beautiful hank of yarn may never ever be available for purchase if you let it slip by this time.... or if you find a GREAT deal on the BEST yarn (ever), how can you walk away from it, even if you're not really sure what you'll do with it---you've just always wanted to knit it?

sock yarn

Given that all crafters stash, at some level, I find it perverse how much obsessing there is about it. Knitters organize their stash, blog about their stash, organize community efforts to reduce their stash, vow to stop stashing ("yarn diet"---bah!), create self-help communities to support each other in refraining from the stash... oy. STOP THE MADNESS! Knitters need yarn---its a fact. If you don't have it, you can't knit it. Am I going too fast here?

Yarn for three sweater projects (already selected)

This time of year is scary for stashers because moths are natural stash predators. Its kind of Darwinian, really; seperates the strong stashers from the weak and unfit. Promotes the spread of the best stashing attributes in future generations.

I need to be surrounded by my Muse; I need to see the stash, I need to be able to feel it. Its kind of hard to do that if your stash is downstairs in your cedar-paneled basement. And even though I embrace my inner stasher, I knew that packaging my stash suitably would bring me face-to-face with the cold hard truth of my stashing.

Yarn for doll project

Last night I was planning to attend a going-away knit night for Dagmar, a woman with stash panache (see? how cool is that?), a major stash cache... but yesterday was a tough day following a night of less than 2 hours sleep. I went out to buy a bottle of wine, some bread and cheese, pick up my knitting treasures to share with the girls. It was so humid; I was so tired. The house was so still.... I fell asleep waiting for my body to return to a normal temperature so I might shower, dress and knit.

Mystery Hats leftover, Rob's sweater, a present for Tracy

I slept for just a couple of hours. I awoke disoriented, disappointed. There was no way to make it to the knit night.

Yarn leftover from previous projects

So I sat in my library/mudroom/craft space and sealed my stash in ziploc bags, thinking of my friends, dreaming of the knitting. The yarn in these photos represent almost the sum total of my stash. What is not here is mostly acrylic yarns that moths wouldn't dare allow to pass their lips and that I will never likely knit now that I've become a "yarn snob"...which is yet another way that knitters disparage their proclivities.

*Disclaimer: I do not deny that I am more than a mere knitter. I have also stashes of needlework supplies, stashes of jewelry-making supplies and stashes of scrapbooking supplies. Some might even call my music collection a stash. I still don't feel bad.

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